The initial clash of the Spartan-Athenian Naval War of 1890

In obedience with his orders, the captain of the Artemis set sail from Crete at daybreak. He ordered his ship to sail toward the northwest with the intention of intercepting the Spartan battleship off the coast near Cape Spatha..

Just before the end of the forenoon watch, one of Artemis’s lookouts spotted smoke on the horizon. The ship’s captain ordered the helm to be put over so that she was on a course that would intercept the unknown vessel. Just as eight bells was sounded (i.e. it was midday and the end of the forenoon watch and beginning of the afternoon watch) the lookout reported that the unknown ship’s white upperworks were visible, and that it was a battleship.

Some minutes later the lookout reported that the ship’s hull was now visible and that it was black, indicating that it was painted in the colours of the Spartan Navy.

The First Lieutenant remarked, ‘It sounds as if it’s the Leonidas, Sir.’

‘I hope so, Number One … otherwise we’ve been wasting our time and our coal!’

Soon afterwards, the lookout confirmed that the approaching ship was flying the ensign of the Spartan Navy.

‘Yeoman, make the following signal. Please heave to as I have a message to pass to you.’

‘Aye aye, Sir!’

The signal flags were quickly attached to signal halyard and hoisted aloft.

‘The other ship is replying Sir. Signal reads C-A-N-N-O-T C-O-M-P-L-Y S-T-O-P A-M C-A-R-R-Y-I-N-G D-I-P-L-O-M-A-T-I-C D-E-S-P-A-T-C-H F-O-R A-M-B-A-S-S-A-D-O-R S-T-O-P.’

‘Yeoman, repeat our signal.’

‘Aye aye, Sir!’

The signal flags were again hoisted aloft and the Yeoman kept his telescope trained on the other ship.

‘The other ships has replied, Sir … and repeated their previous message.’

‘Guns!’

‘Sir!’

‘Prepare to fire a shot across the bows of that ships if he does not comply with my next signal.’

‘Aye aye, Sir!’

‘Yeoman, make the following signal. Be advised that I am acting on orders from the Cretan Government who require you to remain outside their territorial waters.’

The signal was made, and a reply was not long coming.

‘Sir, reply reads C-A-N-N-O-T C-O-M-P-L-Y S-T-O-P.’

‘Guns, fire a warning shot across the bows of that ship!’

‘Aye aye, Sir!’

A shell was fired from the Artemis’s forward turret, and a shell splash was seen some distance ahead of the Leonidas.

The Yeoman spoke. ‘Sir. The ship is not replying by signal but I can see that she is hoisting battle ensigns!’

Looking around the bridge the captain of Artemis said, ‘Gentlemen, it seems as if we have a battle on our hands. Bugler, sound battle stations! Yeoman, hoist our battle ensigns. Guns, prepare your men for action. Number One, move to the aft conning position and prepare to take over if I am incapacitated.’

A chorus of ‘Aye aye’ sounded around the bridge as the bugler began to play the call to action stations and the Yeoman supervised the hoisting of the battle ensigns. Minutes later, the battle began.

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THE BATTLE OF CAPE SPATHA

Initial Positions

Artemis was sailing on a roughly north-westerly course and Leonidas was on a reciprocal south-easterly course.

Turn 1

As they were both still out of range of each other, the ships maintained their existing courses.

Turn 2

Although the distance between the two ships was shortening, they both remained out of range of each other.

Turn 3

Artemis turned to starboard in the hope that she could shorten the distance between the two ships whereas Leonidas continued on her existing course.

Turn 4

Leonidas opened fire with both her main guns as Artemis was now abeam of her and within range. She threw 2D6 dice and scored 3 and 4, thus scoring a minor hit on the Artemis and reducing her to 11 FPs.

In reply, the Artemis fired her forward main gun at the Leonidas. She threw a D6 die and scored 6, thus scoring a major hit on Leonidas. Leonidas immediately lost 1 FP and a second D6 die was thrown. The score of 1 meant that the ship suffered an additional loss of Flotation Points and was reduced to 10 FPs.

Leonidas now turned to starboard to ensure that she could continue to engage Artemis and the latter also turned to starboard in the hope that she could use both her main guns against Leonidas.

Turn 5

Both ships fired at each other with their forward main guns. Leonidas threw a D6 die and scored 2 and Artemis threw a D6 die and scored 3. Both ships had therefore missed their targets!

Leonidas continued its starboard turn and Artemis maintained its existing course ... thus reducing the distance between the two ships quite considerably!

Turn 6

Both ships were now able to fire broadsides at their opponent.

Leonidas threw 2D6 dice and scored 2 and 2 and missed! In reply, Artemis threw 2D6 dice and scored 6 and 4. The 4 - being a minor hit - caused Leonidas to immediately lose another Flotation Point and the 6 - being a major hit -required Artemis to throw a D6 die to see what additional damage had been caused. The D6 die score was 2, causing Leonidas to catch fire! Leonidas was now reduced to 8 FP and was on fire.

Both ships continued on their existing courses, thus passing each other as they did.

Turn 7

Now that the range was much closer, both ships threw 4D6 dice to determine the effectiveness of their gunfire.

Leonidas scored 2, 2, 2, and 1 ... which was appalling shooting as they missed Artemis completely! In reply, Artemis scored 6, 4, 3, and 2, thus inflicting a major hit and a minor hit. Leonidas was immediately reduced to 6 FPs and had reached her Critical Point. In addition, the D6 die thrown by the Artemis to determine the additional damage scored 5, knocking out the ship's aft main gun turret.

The range was so close that both ships were also able to fire their secondary armament. Leonidas threw 2D6 dice and scored 4 and 3, thus causing Artemis to lose a Flotation Point. In reply, Artemis threw 2D6 dice and scored 5 and 1, thereby reducing Leonidas to 5 FPs.

Artemis turned to starboard in the hope that she would now be able to rake Leonidas, and Leonidas did the same ... but only so that she could withdraw as quickly as she could from the battle!

Leonidas attempted to put out the fire and threw a D6 die and scored 2. This was not enough to douse the flames and the fire continued to burn.

Turn 8

Both ships were now within torpedo range of each other, and each fired a torpedo at the other. Leonidas threw a D6 die and scored 3, thus missing Artemis. Artemis threw a D6 die and scored 5. As this was another minor hit, Leonidas lost another Flotation Point and now only had 4 FPs.

Both ship fired their main armament at their opponent. Leonidas threw a D6 die as she only had one main gun still in action. It scored 4 and this minor hit reduced Artemis to 10 FPs. Artemis threw 2D6 dice and scored 4 and 1, thus inflicting another minor hit on the Leonidas and reducing her to 3 FPs.

Leonidas attempted to put out the fire that was raging aboard her and threw a D6 die and scored 1. This meant that the fire reached her main magazine and she exploded and sank in a matter of seconds.

Artemis immediately hove to and lowered her boats in the hope that she could rescue any survivors ... but only a dozen souls were rescued.

Artemis had done all that had been asked of her and had stopped Leonidas from reaching Crete ... but an all-out war with Sparta was now in full swing and the Spartans would want their revenge sooner rather than later.

The Artemis and Leonidas

All the battleships serving in the Athenian and Spartan Navies were built in the shipyards of Corinth to almost identical designs. They were coastal defence battleships and were armed as follows:

• Main armament: 2 x single-mounted 11.8inch/30cm rifled breech-loading guns in fore and aft turrets.
• Secondary armament: 4 x single-mounted 5.9-inch/15cm quick-firing guns, with two in casemate on each side.
• Torpedoes: 4 x 17.7-inch/45cm submerged torpedo tubes, with one mounted in the bow, one mounted in the stern, and one mounted on each beam.

Artemis

Leonidas

The Athenian and Spartan fleets … and another bit of chrome!

I have now painted eight of my Monopoly battleships to represent the Athenian and Spartan fleets.

The four Athenian battleships are named:

• Artemis (red)
• Aristotle (white)
• Plato (blue)
• Socrates (green)

The Athenian colour scheme is white hulls and upperworks with buff funnels.

The four Spartan battleships are named:

• Leonidas (red)
• Helen (white)
• Gorgo (blue)
• Menelaus (green)

The Spartan colour scheme is black hulls with buff funnels and upperworks.

Each ship is identified by the colour of their top mast. These are shown after each ship’s name.

In a comment on my previous post about my simple late nineteenth century battleship vs. battleship naval wargame rules, Chris suggested that I include some slightly more detailed rules for torpedo hits … and here they are:

• Results:
• Dice score = 6: Major ‘hit’: target ship loses 1 FP plus throw another D6 die.
• Dice score = 6: target ship’s rudder is hit and the ship and must maintain its current course for D6 turns.
• Dice score = 5: target ship’s engine and boiler rooms are flooded and her movement is reduced to 1 grid area per turn.
• Dice score = 3 or 4: target ship loses another 2 FPs.
• Dice score = 1 or 2: target ship loses another FP.
• Dice score = 4 or 5: Minor ‘hit’: target ship loses 1 FP.
• Dice score = 1, 2, or 3: Torpedo has been ineffective.

I think that this addition to the rules improves them.

Background to the Spartan-Athenian Naval War of 1890

This imaginary war was created so that I had a background against which I could try out my recently written SIMPLE LATE NINETEENTH CENTURY BATTLESHIP VS. BATTLESHIP NAVAL WARGAME RULES. The inspiration for the setting came from the recent mini-camapigns being fought using Mark Cordone's HOPLITE Portable Wargame mini-campaign.

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During the latter part of the nineteenth century the rivalry between the Greek city-states of Sparta and Athens was growing. The Spartans particularly resented the growing links between the Athenians and the Cretans, especially after the Athenians signed a treaty with the Cretans that gave them exclusive rights to buy the Cretan agricultural surpluses.

Sparta's growing population needed that food supply, and despite diplomatic requests to both the Athenians and Cretans to allow the Spartans to be party to the treaty, they were rebuffed. In order to intimidate the Cretans, the Spartan king ordered the Corinthian-built battleship Leonidas to Crete ... not knowing that the Athenian battleship Artemis (which was also built in Corinth) was already there on a goodwill visit.

On receiving information that the Leonidas had set sail for Crete, the Athenian Admiralty sent a coded telegram to the captain of the Artemis, ordering him to prevent the Spartan warship from reaching Crete.

The stage was set for a confrontation ...

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Note about the Corinthian shipbuilders

Corinth was the major centre for shipbuilding in the region and built warships for all the local nations. As a result, both the Spartan and Athenian fleets had identical battleships.